Tag: skilled trades

It wasn’t that long ago that a high school education was all you needed to land a decent paying job. Those days are gone and in the world today many entry level jobs expect you to have some type of college education. Unfortunately a college education is expensive and out of reach for many Americans. However, technical or vocational school is a viable alternative to university or college.

University Costs

According to research done by Bloomberg the cost of a university degree in the US has increased by 1,120% in the past 30 years, that is more than two times the rate of inflation. There are less than 10% of students that can afford the cost of tuition. The rest are forced to take out loans that will take decades to pay back. Most graduates leave college with $30,000 worth of student loan debt.

Vocational School

While we constantly hear of college graduates that can’t find jobs, there are more than three million openings in the skilled trades. Many of these jobs have very good salaries and there is no one to fill them. These trades include plumbers, electricians, along with medical and technical trades. These salaries are also rising faster than the rate of inflation. If you don’t have the money nor the desire to go to college this is a viable alternative.

The Advantages

Not every student can handle college life and there is nothing wrong with that. Both parents and the school system have been pushing students towards a college degree and many go just to avoid fighting with their parents. A whopping 40% of students drop out of school before they finish their degrees. That’s thousands of dollars wasted on a school they weren’t interested in going to in the first place. Perhaps if they had been encouraged to pursue a career in the skilled trades it might have worked out better for everyone.

Shorter Degree Programs

When you focus on a single area of expertise rather than a complete curriculum you can finish training that much sooner. Many vocational programs are two years, they can complete school with less debt and enter the workforce immediately. Not only that 2 years of vocational training is far less expensive than 2 years in university.

Vocational schools offer students a hands on learning program and they prepare you for the job market from the first day of class. Once students are ready to graduate they are ready to start a job in their field. For that reason alone vocational or technical school may better serve your career goals than going to college.